<table border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing="0"><tr><td>
<pre>Hi, I've been searching for some of the history of olive oil, and
have been considering the term "virgin olive oil" and from where it
originates. I have some vague references to virgins cultivating the
olives in ancient greece...anyone know where that is mentioned? Was
the term in use during the middle ages? So far I haven´t found
anything about it yet.

Daniel
</pre>
</td></tr></table>

<table border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing="0"><tr><td>
<pre>Daniel,
As a "delver" into Olive oil history, it has always intrigued me as
to where the term "virgin" came from. I will hazard a guess to the meaning, in
that the first lot of oil pressed in presses a century ago was always the best,
the second and third pressings were inferior to the first. So, as the best and
purest, unsullied, the term virgin may have been applied.

Check out my website:
http://www.angelfire.com/rock3/ricki...liveintro.html

I have often seen the term "vierce" on olive oil labels of 50+ years ago. Can
anyone tell me what it means?

Cheers and good luck.

Richard Irving




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
</pre>
</td></tr></table>

<table border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing="0"><tr><td>
<pre>Hi Daniel,

I have found a source that explains the origin of olive. The web site is:
www.egebirlik.org.tr

Please find below the text as it is extracted. I hope it is helpful.

Behice

"Olive and olive oil are known by human beigns for about 8000 years.
Archaelogical discoveries show that motherland of olive tree is
Southeastern Anatolia and Mesopotamia. In the course of the history, It
spreaded first to the Mediterrenean Region and then to other
continents.
The origin of the word “zeytin” ( Turkish for olive) provides some clues
about the story of the olive tree. The Arabic words “ez-zeyt” and zeytoun”
derive from the Hebrem root “zeyt”.( Furthermore, there is the word
“zeirtim” the language of the Akkadians who lived in Anatolia long time
ago.) Later we find these same words in Spanish as “acetia” The
“elaia” of ancient Greek becomes the word “olea” and “olium in Latin,
finally taking the form of “olive” in English."

-----Original Message-----
From: danielserra@yahoo.com <danielserra@yahoo.com>
To: OliveOil@yahoogroups.com <OliveOil@yahoogroups.com>
Date: 08 Ekim 2001 Pazartesi 22:14
Subject: [OliveOil] Olive Oil History


Hi, I've been searching for some of the history of olive oil, and
have been considering the term "virgin olive oil" and from where it
originates. I have some vague references to virgins cultivating the
olives in ancient greece...anyone know where that is mentioned? Was
the term in use during the middle ages? So far I haven´t found
anything about it yet.

Daniel


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Inviting others to join this group is simple: Just ask them to
send an empty message to: OliveOil-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
For more information: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OliveOil
Post message: OliveOil@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: OliveOil-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Unsubscribe: OliveOil-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
List owner: OliveOil-owner@yahoogroups.com
------------------------------------------------------------------

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
</pre>
</td></tr></table>

<table border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing="0"><tr><td>
<pre>I don't really have any info on why virgin oil is called virgin. However,
in response to the source mentioned below, most botanical evidence (as
well as archaeological) points to Syro-Palestine as the area of origin and
domestication for the olive.

Peter Warnock

On Tue, 9 Oct 2001, Behice Ertenu wrote:

> Hi Daniel,
>
> I have found a source that explains the origin of olive. The web site is:
> www.egebirlik.org.tr
>
> Please find below the text as it is extracted. I hope it is helpful.
>
> Behice
>
> "Olive and olive oil are known by human beigns for about 8000 years.
> Archaelogical discoveries show that motherland of olive tree is
> Southeastern Anatolia and Mesopotamia. In the course of the history, It
> spreaded first to the Mediterrenean Region and then to other
> continents.
> The origin of the word “zeytin” ( Turkish for olive) provides some clues
> about the story of the olive tree. The Arabic words “ez-zeyt” and zeytoun”
> derive from the Hebrem root “zeyt”.( Furthermore, there is the word
> “zeirtim” the language of the Akkadians who lived in Anatolia long time
> ago.) Later we find these same words in Spanish as “acetia” The
> “elaia” of ancient Greek becomes the word “olea” and “olium in Latin,
> finally taking the form of “olive” in English."
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: danielserra@yahoo.com <danielserra@yahoo.com>
> To: OliveOil@yahoogroups.com <OliveOil@yahoogroups.com>
> Date: 08 Ekim 2001 Pazartesi 22:14
> Subject: [OliveOil] Olive Oil History
>
>
> Hi, I've been searching for some of the history of olive oil, and
> have been considering the term "virgin olive oil" and from where it
> originates. I have some vague references to virgins cultivating the
> olives in ancient greece...anyone know where that is mentioned? Was
> the term in use during the middle ages? So far I haven´t found
> anything about it yet.
>
> Daniel
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> Inviting others to join this group is simple: Just ask them to
> send an empty message to: OliveOil-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> For more information: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OliveOil
> Post message: OliveOil@yahoogroups.com
> Subscribe: OliveOil-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
> Unsubscribe: OliveOil-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> List owner: OliveOil-owner@yahoogroups.com
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> Inviting others to join this group is simple: Just ask them to
> send an empty message to: OliveOil-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> For more information: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OliveOil
> Post message: OliveOil@yahoogroups.com
> Subscribe: OliveOil-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
> Unsubscribe: OliveOil-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> List owner: OliveOil-owner@yahoogroups.com
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>

--
Peter Warnock
Dept. of Anthropology
Swallow Hall
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211
(573) 443-4203
(573) 884-5450 (fax)
pjwd29@mizzou.edu
</pre>
</td></tr></table>

<table border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing="0"><tr><td>
<pre>Dear Stan:

I think that you might be close to the answer.

The Parthenon was the Temple of the goddess "Virgin
Athena" who introduced the olive tree to the Athenians
according to the myth.

It could be that the best quality olive oil was named
after this wise Goddess who was known for her wisdom
and was referred by the name Virgin Athena.

Food for thought.

Constantine

--- Stan Kailis <kailis@ca.com.au> wrote:
> Dear all
>
> Regarding virgin olive oil - My gut feeling is that
> it comes from a
> translation - the Greek word Parthenon indicates
> pure, untampered,
> untouched unadulterated. Of course it first applied
> to humans - both men
> and women.
>
> We Greeks use the word in many contexts -
>
> References to Ancient Israeli olive oil production
> there is reference to
> pure crushed olive ol - shemen zeit zah katit
>
> In the Vible - olive oil is refered to as the oil,
> the sacred oil, olive
> oil - but not extra virgin
>
> The free fatty acid test - 1% or less for EVO has
> been used since early
> last century.
>
> I know this does not answer the question - but mat
> trigger others in the
> group to add information.
>
> Stan Kailis
>
>
> ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
>
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------
> Inviting others to join this group is simple: Just
> ask them to
> send an empty message to:
> OliveOil-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------
> For more information:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OliveOil
> Post message: OliveOil@yahoogroups.com
> Subscribe: OliveOil-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
> Unsubscribe: OliveOil-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> List owner: OliveOil-owner@yahoogroups.com
>
------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>


=====
Constantine Alexander
"La Terre est Vivante"

Visit our web site
http://www.OliveTree.cc
Visit our Parea*
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OliveTreeWorld

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals.
http://personals.yahoo.com
</pre>
</td></tr></table>

<table border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing="0"><tr><td>
<pre>Thanks,
The parthenon explanation does seem like a plausible
one, since the parthenon does play an important role
in the greek myth about olive oils..could perhaps the
myth about virgins (both male and female) tending the
plant derive from that?


Would the term then be used in western europe from the
renaissance on or already in medieval europe. Anyone
know of any early sources?
Were there any other terms other than oil in use..as
far as I can tell from medieval culinary sources there
seems to be made no difference in the litterature,
where they all just refer to oil when meaning olive
oil, the only exeptions being when refering to
inferior oil..a scandinavian book of herbs and
remedies refere to bomoil, which was a term for
oliveoil used for fuel

cheers Daniel


__________________________________________________ __________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.co.uk address at http://mail.yahoo.co.uk
or your free @yahoo.ie address at http://mail.yahoo.ie
</pre>
</td></tr></table>

<table border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing="0"><tr><td>
<pre>Dear all

Regarding virgin olive oil - My gut feeling is that it comes from a
translation - the Greek word Parthenon indicates pure, untampered,
untouched unadulterated. Of course it first applied to humans - both men
and women.

We Greeks use the word in many contexts -

References to Ancient Israeli olive oil production there is reference to
pure crushed olive ol - shemen zeit zah katit

In the Vible - olive oil is refered to as the oil, the sacred oil, olive
oil - but not extra virgin

The free fatty acid test - 1% or less for EVO has been used since early
last century.

I know this does not answer the question - but mat trigger others in the
group to add information.

Stan Kailis
</pre>
</td></tr></table>